


The Raft (Moments)

by quiet__tiger



Category: Smallville
Genre: Angst, Drama, First Time, M/M, hurt-comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-04
Updated: 2008-04-04
Packaged: 2017-11-01 12:22:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/356732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What lurks in Crater Lake?  Written for the sv_renaissance Stephen King Challenge.  Warning: character deaths.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Raft (Moments)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the sv_renaissance Stephen King Challenge (<http://community.livejournal.com/sv_renaissance/66099.html>). I chose to adapt King's short story "The Raft" into a Smallville fic. Figure early season 2. Enjoy.

## The Raft (Moments)

by Quiet Tiger

<http://quiet--tiger.livejournal.com/profile>

* * *

Title: The Raft (Moments)  
Author: Quiet Tiger  
Paring/Characters: Clark/Lex, Chloe, Lana Rating: NC-17/Adult  
Warnings: Violence, character deaths, underage sexual activity, possible comparison to a songfic. Word Count: 4573 

Summary: What lurks in Crater Lake? 

* * *

Clark wasn't really sure how they'd all talked each other into it, but here they were, crammed into Lex's car, on the way to spend the evening at Crater Lake. It _could_ have been any long summer day in Smallville, but it was definitely October, Indian summer but still a little chilly. 

Not that it really affected _him_ , what with his alien body, but Lex and the girls may get cold. 

The lake itself would affect him more than the cold would. It was called "Crater Lake" for a reason, and he was always wary of meteor rock being in it or around it. But it's not like he could give that as an excuse for not going with them. 

They'd been sitting at the Talon, him, Lex, Chloe, and Lana, and Clark had been silently marveling over how well everyone was getting along. He knew the girls didn't totally trust Lex, and Lex didn't totally trust Chloe, and though Lex didn't really have a problem with Lana, he did seem to think she was a little full of herself, and Chloe was a little jealous of Lana, while Lana also seemed to be a little jealous of Chloe... 

But they had managed to all get along for some coffee, and then he found himself wedged in the front seat of Lex's Camaro, the girls wedged in the back. Clark wasn't even sure why Lex owned a Camaro, but he had a strong suspicion that it was because Clark had a poster of one in his room. Domestic muscle car, oh baby, oh baby. 

They stopped at each of their homes to grab bathing suits, no parents home to talk them out of it, then they headed out for Crater Lake. For a little Indian summer swim. The idea was either inspired or crazy, Clark wasn't sure which. At the very least, maybe it would help his friends learn to get along a little better. If everyone had to freeze his or her butt off to do so, then so be it. 

And besides, any time with Lex was time well spent. He was just so knowledgeable, so wise, and careful and fun and exciting. And hot. Very hot. 

Lex pulled up along Crater Lake, the grassy beach filled with people in warmer weather but empty now. The plan was to swim out to the raft anchored in the middle of the lake and hang out until after the sun set. Lame, maybe, but exciting enough for Clark and the girls. Lex wore this kind of expression that Clark read as he was content humoring the teens. 

Clark clambered out of the small car, stretching as he pulled off his shirt. Lex was right behind him, peeling out of his clothing like some exotic animal shedding its skin. He folded everything neatly and put it back in the car, then turned back to Clark. His lean, pale body was covered only by a set of black bikini briefs, and Clark was exceedingly glad he hadn't yet taken off his jeans so he had a few moments to get his sudden erection under control. 

Chloe and Lana had piled out of the sports car and stripped while he was watching Lex; both girls wore bikinis, the straps vibrant against their skin. The little triangles curved around their chests, and he knew that he was supposed to want to... touch? Stare? Salivate? But he found himself looking back at Lex, body sleek and hairless as he smirked at him. "Ready, Clark? Nice little polar bear swim." 

"Yeah. Should be fun." He thought he was probably in control of himself, so off came his jeans and shoes. He almost tripped over them and fell on his ass, but he was able to right himself and not embarrass himself too much, and was finally standing there in his red trunks. 

"I dunno, Clark, you look a little cold already." Lana's eyes were bright as she teased him, and Clark smiled back slightly. He wasn't cold, not really, but he wrapped his arms around himself for show. Besides, he didn't need X-ray vision to see how the chill in the air was affecting Lana. 

"Come on, guys, last one in is a rotten egg!" With that, Chloe took off running for the water, her yellow bikini complementing her pale skin. Lex followed her after glancing over at Clark, and Clark couldn't help but notice the muscles in his back and butt working gorgeously in that little Speedo thing he was wearing. 

Well. At least the cold water might keep his traitorous flesh at bay. 

He took off at a run as well, almost tripped over some drift wood, righted himself, and as he reached the edge of the water he plunged into it. He came up for air and stroked lazily towards the raft in the middle of the lake. It was a good size, plenty of room for the four of them and more if they had more people with them, and was painted white. It was easy to spot against the gray water and trees on the other side of the lake. 

He thought he could see some other discolored spot on the water, a few dozen yards to the left, but he ignored it as he stroked past Lana and Chloe. He wasn't fast enough to reach Lex, and he watched him climb onto the raft, water dripping from his lean form. Another few seconds and then Clark was at the raft as well. He hauled himself up onto its surface and stood next to Lex. 

He faked a shiver as he watched Chloe and Lana. Chloe reached the raft first, and Clark helped her up. She smiled at him and he grinned back. "Nice day for a swim." 

"Now I know what a polar bear feels like. Except they have fur coats." Goosebumps covered her pale skin. Definitely not a fur coat in sight. 

Clark turned back to Lana, who was still a ways from the raft. That odd discolored spot he'd noticed before seemed closer, no, it _was_ closer, and... _moving_... Right at Lana. "Lana!" She looked up at him, frowned, then went back to swimming. She was only a few yards out... 

She climbed the ladder seconds before the dark spot reached her. "What, Clark?" 

"That thing..." He pointed to the spot, which had moved back out to about ten yards. The spot itself was maybe five feet across, irregular in shape but in a regular sort of way... "It almost got you." 

"What are you talking about, what is it?" She cocked her head and wrinkled her nose in that way that used to turn him on, but now it just annoyed him. 

"I don't _know_. Lex?" 

Lex was squinting at the blob-spot thing. "I don't know, Clark." 

"Chloe?" 

She was biting her lip, smile long gone. "I don't know. Probably Wall of Weird material, though. I don't like it." 

As they spoke, the spot moved closer. It slid along the raft, and Clark could see that within the blackness, green veins sparkled. A very familiar shade of green... A wave of nausea rolled through Clark, and he backed away. Great. Some mystery blob caused by the meteor rock. Wonderful. 

He felt a strong hand on his shoulder, and he looked up into serious gray eyes. "Are you okay, Clark?" 

"Yeah, Lex, just feeling a little..." 

"Seasick?" 

"Yeah." Lame, lame, lame. He hoped that one day he'd be a better liar. He glanced over at the girls, their worry making him feel even worse. "I'll be okay." 

Chloe turned back to the spot and knelt down for a closer look, reporter instincts no doubt telling her to learn as much as possible. She frowned in concentration as she watched the blackness and its veins ripple. "These green parts, they're the same color as the meteor rock." 

"Those awful rocks again. Always. They started with my parents and just never stopped." Lana sniffed indignantly and Clark tried not to roll his eyes. "Chloe, be careful..." 

Chloe had leaned over really far, her gaze intent. Clark echoed Lana as he offered, "Don't..." 

She reached towards the blob, fingers outstretched as she leaned even further out. "Clark, the color..." 

That didn't even _sound_ like Chloe. He moved towards her, but not before the veiny blob suddenly shot part of itself over her hand, not quite like a tentacle, but he couldn't think of a more accurate word. The second the blackness touched her skin, Chloe screamed. 

So did Lana. 

Clark ran to the edge of the raft, but by then the blob, which it clearly wasn't, not really, it was something else, had pulled Chloe into the lake. He crouched into a dive, but lean, powerful arms wrapped around him from behind and kept him in place. Lex's voice was loud and frightened. "No, Clark. Look. Listen." 

Chloe's shrieks were loud and sharp, and Clark wanted to save her, he really did, but the way she thrashed was frightening, and he could see, where her limbs broke the surface, the way the black and green ooze was... _eating_ away at her skin, or maybe dissolving it. Skin was falling off bone, which in turn hissed where the stuff touched it. Chloe's cries were beyond pain now, hysterical, panicked shouts. 

Until the ooze flowed up over her chin and down into her throat, and as her eyes bugged out the screams stopped. The blackness pulled the rest of her down, her blonde hair the last to be swallowed. 

For a moment Clark thought the abrupt silence was total, but then he became aware that Lana was still screaming. 

All of a sudden he realized he was going to vomit, and he pushed Lex away and turned toward the other side of the raft. He was sick for what felt like forever, his body unused to this abuse, either the emotional stress caused by watching his best friend eaten or the physical stress from the damned meteor rock taxing his body beyond its limits. 

When he finally calmed down and was able to stand, he realized Lana was _still_ screaming. He looked back at her and was disturbed by the gray hue of her skin and the bloodshot and unfocused look of her eyes. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her small body as she trembled, and Clark wasn't sure she was really aware of anything. The light was on, but no one was home. 

He hadn't acknowledged that Lex was resting a hand on his back until it was gone. He strode across the raft and slapped Lana across the face. After another squeak she was finally quiet, and looked like she was almost actually seeing Lex. Her eyes overflowed with tears and she frantically wiped them away. "It ate her! Chloe!" 

Lex spoke slowly and carefully like he was addressing a small child. "Lana. You have to calm down." 

"What is that thing? It ate her!" They all heard a sucking sound as the spot slid along the raft and then underneath it. Clark's nausea was back, and Lana started shrieking again. 

"Lana!" Lex bellowed, and grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Calm down!" 

Clark watched the blob slide out from underneath the raft on the other side, and he felt a little better, though that was relative. Lana, however, started flailing around and fought out of Lex's grip. "Do something! Get it away!" 

Lex sighed and slapped her again, this time hard enough to knock her down. She fell towards the edge of the raft and stayed down, the hand-shaped mark on her cheek bright red. "Lex..." She shook her head, black hair falling across her face. Her body went limp and she collapsed onto the raft. 

Lex frowned down at her. "Good. I couldn't handle her screaming... Hopefully when she wakes up she'll be more in control of herself." 

"You didn't have to hit her." 

Lex shot him a look that very clearly said _Yes_ , _I did_ , _and you know it_. 

Clark sighed and wrapped his arms around himself. With that thing so nearby--it was only a few feet off the edge of the raft--weakening him, he could feel the cold, but he also really just wanted the comfort. 

The blob thing, larger now by several yards, moved until it was a few yards out from the raft. The green veins pulsed, throbbed, and Clark found himself drawn to them, unable to look away. In turn, the spot itself seemed to be staring at him and Lex, watching them. Waiting for them to make some sort of lethal error. But what could they possibly do wrong? They couldn't really move anywhe- 

The blob shot forward, directly at them, and Clark realized far too late what its target was. 

_Her hair_. _Her hair was in the water_. 

"Oh, God, Lana!" Clark ran but it wasn't in time to grab her; he turned his head away, but not before he saw the blackness swarm through Lana's hair then up and over her head. Her pretty face was eaten away as the rest of her body was dragged into the water. He could hear the wet sounds of her skin dissolving, and then the sizzling as the ooze reached bone. Once again nausea rolled through him for a variety of reasons, and the only reason he didn't heave whatever remained in his stomach was the feel of Lex's hand on his back and the sound of his voice in his ear. 

"Clark. Clark. Stay with me. We have to... Goddamn it, I don't know!" 

Clark straightened again and looked into Lex's wide eyes. For the first time he could really remember, Clark was genuinely afraid for himself and Lex. He couldn't muscle through the blob, not when it made him sick and weak. "I'm scared, Lex." 

"I am as well." The tense muscles in Lex's shoulders relaxed. A little. "I thought I've been scared before. When the meteors came, and that thing with Jude, but I've come through that. ...I don't know if we'll get through this." 

"Lex..." 

"No. Listen. That thing can't be touched. We have no tools or weapons. We can't out-swim it, not with the way it just grabbed Lana. No one knows we're here, and there's no way to reach us." 

"Your phone, can't they trace the signal?" 

Lex looked away. "It's in the car and turned off. I've been doing that lately when I've been socializing." 

Lex didn't want to be interrupted when he was hanging out with Clark? Whoa... 

"And the car doesn't yet have the GPS in it. It was going to be put in next weekend. Today is only the second time I took it out..." Lex looked away. Ashamed? Embarrassed? He looked back, _almost_ accusingly. "And that thing makes you sick." 

Clark just couldn't get into that discussion, not right now... "What are we supposed to do?" 

Lex's answer frightened him even more. "I don't know." Lex _always_ knew. "But I want to sit down. I know that much." Lex sat down, legs crossed, and kept his gaze focused on the blob. It was even larger now, and still staring at them. 

Clark sat, too, and it felt good to get his weight off his bare feet. Being weak like this was awful. But at least the thing was far enough out he couldn't feel it too badly. But he could still feel the cold. It was almost dark now, and any warmth from the sun was long gone. He leaned into Lex without realizing it at first. Actually, he didn't realize it until Lex leaned closer to him, too. 

"Lex, they're dead. Chloe and Lana." Like he had to say it to really accept it, like the sounds and sights of their deaths wouldn't haunt him `til the end of his days. 

His hours. 

Minutes? 

"Don't think about it, Clark. I know you loved them, but bemoaning the past isn't going to help our future." 

They sat in silence, and Clark grew more and more depressed by the minute. What he would have given just yesterday to be alone and almost naked with Lex! 

But not like this. 

Absolutely not. 

All the times he fantasized about being with Lex and nearly naked, not a single scenario had this amount of death, this amount of fear, this amount of discomfort and awkwardness. 

But that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy their forced closeness, try to make the best of the situation. Think about the way Lex was sitting right next to him, wearing only that tiny little bathing suit... 

But then he thought of Chloe, and how much pain she'd been in during her gruesome death, and the way he wasn't able to help her. He _always_ saved Chloe. Except for the one time where it really mattered. 

And Lana... he loved her, or at least he used to. At least she was unconscious when she died. She didn't feel pain that he knew of. But her horrific screaming, Chloe's shrieks of agony... 

He didn't realize he was crying until Lex wrapped an arm around him and murmured soothing sounds into his ear. He leaned into the strong arm and rested his head on the muscular shoulder. He cried and he tried to crawl closer to Lex, and he wasn't sure who made the first move, but suddenly Lex's lips were pressed against his, or maybe his were pressed against Lex's. 

He and Lex were kissing, and it felt good, far too good, but there was no love in it, just fear and desperation and lust. Clark knew that if the circumstances were different, there'd be a discussion, about feelings and intentions and desires... 

All that was needed right now, though, was spit and positioning. 

Clark's hand cupped Lex through his bathing suit, the fabric nowhere near covering all of his erection. He pulled it down so he could get a good grip on the hard flesh. He felt Lex's hands pull down his trunks and he spared a second to help get them off, but then his hand was back on Lex's cock. Lex's eager tongue was in his mouth, and Clark whimpered as he thrust into Lex's hand. 

He didn't have much... well, _any_ sexual experience, but it didn't seem to matter as instinct took over. Fear and sex were related in that bizarre way. And Lex didn't seem to be complaining, unless he was misinterpreting the groan Lex gave when Clark gently tugged on his balls. 

Clark pushed at Lex until he was on his back with Clark over him. They were lined up at just the right way to _rub_... 

"Clark..." Clark opened his eyes to see Lex staring back at him. "Can you see it?" 

"Huh?" 

"The thing." 

Clark raised his head to see. How could he have _forgotten_? "Yeah. Still ten yards out." 

"Watch it?" 

"Yeah." Then Clark found out why Lex wanted him to watch. So that he could jerk both of them off and they didn't have to worry. "I can see it." Lex's hand was sure on both of their cocks, no wasted movement as he stroked. His hand was wet with either spit or pre-come, Clark wasn't sure which. It made the slide of cock against cock even better. 

He thrust into the motion and his eyes fell shut at the sensation, but he jerked them open again. The spot was still out there. He chanced a look down at Lex, who was watching him and chewing on his lip. Clark ducked down for a quick kiss then straightened up again, eyes back on the blob. Lex's hands were fantastic, somehow warm on his flesh despite the chill in the air. Clark thrust harder against Lex, needing to come, needing release. He craved it like a starving man craved food, or a man lost in the desert craved water. 

So close, closer... He focused on Lex's grunts, the fingers pressing against that spot right behind his balls, the other hand that had a thumb pressed against his slit... For some reason that old Lifehouse song "Hanging By a Moment" popped into his head, maybe his whole life boiled down to this moment, sex with Lex. He _was_ letting go of everything right now, accepting his need for Lex, and he couldn't get beyond this, here, Lex and this stupid raft and that thing hunting them... 

Closer and closer and then all of a sudden he reached whatever his body needed to reach and he was coming all over Lex, his body jerking as that wonderful feeling of warmth shot throughout him. Horribly perfect, all of it, and if they lived through this he was going to make sure they had that stupid conversation they needed to have, all of it, so they could have this again, so Clark could feel what it was like to let someone in this completely. 

Close, closer... Holy shit, the thing was closer, it was shooting across the water, but for some reason Clark couldn't move; his body was too limp and his eyes were too transfixed on, mesmerized by, the throbbing green veins to do anything. 

He shook his head and forced himself up and reached for Lex to help him up, too, but there was that horrendous sucking sound as the thing slipped underneath the raft. 

Then all he could hear was Lex screaming, and Clark wasn't sure why until he looked down and back and saw that the ooze had come up through the space between the boards of the raft, and was now... 

It was _eating_ Lex, it was on his foot, what was left of his foot. Lex struggled against it, but the stuff flowed higher up his leg. There was blood now, dripping ( _pouring_ ) from Lex's pale leg, and then there was vomit as Clark threw up again, the green veins glowing with their sickly meteor rock color much too near him for his body to take it. And the sounds... _wet_ and _crunchy_ and _awful_ as more and more of Lex's leg was consumed ( _pulled through the raft_ ). 

Lex himself was quieter now, maybe from shock, maybe from fear, maybe from resolution. Clark wanted to go to him, say something, but the closer he got the sicker he got. All he could do was stand and watch helplessly as Lex died. Slowly and in agony. 

The blob pulled more and more of Lex's legs through that inch-wide gap, slowly, so very slowly, fraction by fraction, until it was apparently satisfied with its work ( _not hungry anymore_ ) and came back out from underneath the raft. It flowed back out to about five yards, more than tripled in size from earlier in the evening. Clark stood for a while, but when his legs got tired he sat down carefully, making sure none of him was resting over a space between boards. 

There was nothing to do but sit and think. And he did. About Chloe. About Lana. Lex... He glanced over at the remains of Lex's pale body, and was sickened as he noticed Lex's cock was still hard. Lex didn't get the release that Clark did, but Clark might get the release forced upon Lex. The ultimate release, from the mortal coil or whatever. 

Looming death made him poetic, apparently. Good to know. 

He hadn't thought he could die. He'd faced all sorts of horrible things, and he'd survived them all. But... this thing was different. Worse than anything else related to the meteor rocks. No one was coming to save him, no one was there to help him, and the thing was alive, sentient, not just a rock he could fling away or crawl away from. The only escape, in the water, meant certain death. He was cold and hungry and ached in so many different ways... 

The night was long, made longer by the thing as it ensured he couldn't sleep. He couldn't lie down, was afraid to even sit for too long. He found himself captivated by the green veins, easily visible in the darkness, and each time he startled himself out of focusing on them, the thing was closer. Which meant he was sicker. 

( _i'_ m falling even more in love with you letting go of all i*' _ve held onto i_ ' _m standing here until you make me move i_ ' _m hanging by a moment here with you_ ) 

The song wouldn't leave his mind, and other than it, all he could think about were the people he loved. His mom and dad, Pete and Lana, Chloe and Lex... All of life was moments, the first time he met Pete, sharing that scream on the field with Lana, Chloe smiling at him at the Spring Formal, Lex hitting him with his car, sharing his past, turning off his phone so they could hang out, his hands on Clark's cock and the four seconds it took Clark to realize that Lex was three seconds away from death. 

Moments and choices, like coming to the lake without telling anyone in the middle of October, where no one would look for them. A lake inhabited by some meteor creature that killed his friends in a matter of hours ( _moments_ ) and was no doubt plotting his demise. 

Clark laughed, a little hysterically. The thing didn't have a brain, did it? Could it plot? 

The night got colder and the thing gradually moved closer, whether or not Clark lost himself in the flowing green. He cried again, long and hard. For his friends and himself. 

( _there is nothing else to lose there is nothing else to find there is nothing in the world that could change my mind_ ) 

Hours passed and the thing floated ( _swam_ ) nearer and nearer until it finally came to rest just at the edge of the raft, like it sensed that it was making Clark sick. Like it knew it just needed to wear him down... 

Clark could barely move, he was in such agony. His stomach hurt and his muscles ached, and the cold sweat made his temperature drop even more. 

( _there is nothing else to lose there is nothing else to find there is nothing else there is nothing else there is nothing else nothing else nothing else_ ) 

The thing flowed out from underneath the raft again and then back out, and Clark was once again drawn to the pulsing green veins. 

And this time, he didn't look away. 

He crawled to the edge of the raft, his frustration and helplessness and hopelessness and desperation finally winning out. There was nothing for him anymore, just pain and emptiness. The thing was going to win; it might as well be now. 

( _i don_ ' _t know what i_ ' _m diving into_ _just hanging by a moment here with you_ ) 

The tears were hot on his cheeks, and there was no one to hear how loud his cries might be. 

( _there is nothing else to lose_  
( _nothing else_  
( _nothing_  
( _hanging by a moment lose the moment living for_ ( _desperate starving hanging here with you_ ( _you you you_  
( _nothing else nothing nothing else letting go_ ( _letting go_  
( _go go go go go go_ ) 

He didn't look away, he just reached out. He didn't look away from the green, he let it hold him and take him and he reached out for it. 

_By a moment here with you_... 

* * *

A/N: The line "the muscles in his back and butt working gorgeously" is a direct quote fro King, except he uses "buttocks." I, however, cannot take a porny story that contains the word "buttocks" seriously. Lex's little suit is also directly taken from the original story. 

A/N2: Yes, I used "Hanging By a Moment" by Lifehouse to help frame the story a little bit because King mentions a song by the Ramones and quotes something else when he does that italicized parentheses thing he does, and I figured if I was going to try to do that, I might as well use a song by a band featured often on Smallville. "Hanging By a Moment" just happens to be the one song I don't associate with Smallville and thus still enjoy. 

A/N3: "Moments" might be what I would call this if it weren't blatantly "The Raft," which is why that's the sub-title. 

A/N4: One of these days I may write a story where Lana survives and is not made fun of. Today is not that day. 


End file.
